2018–19 UEFA Europa League facts for kids

{{Infobox international football competition | tourney_name = UEFA Europa League | year = 2018–19 | image = Baku Olympic Stadium panorama 1.JPG | size = 275 | caption = The Olympic Stadium in Baku hosted the final | dates = Qualifying:
26 June – 30 August 2018
Competition proper:
20 September 2018 – 29 May 2019 | num_teams = Competition proper: 48+8
Total: 158+55 | associations = 55 | champion_other = Chelsea | count = 2 | second_other = Arsenal | matches = 205 | goals = 565 | attendance =

The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League will be the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

The final was played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, between English sides Chelsea and Arsenal — which was the first Europa League final to feature two teams from one city. As winners, Chelsea will play against the winners of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. And they would also have been qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage, but since they had already qualified through their league performance, the berth reserved was given to the third-placed team of the 2018–19 Ligue 1, the 5th-ranked association according to next season's access list.

Format changes

On 9 December 2016, UEFA confirmed the changing of plans for the UEFA Champions League for the 2018–2021 cycle, which was announced on 26 August 2016. As per new rules, all teams that are eliminated in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds will get a second chance in the Europa League.

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

Matches in the qualifying (including preliminary and play-off) and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

Group stage

The draw for the group stage will be held on 31 August 2018 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 48 teams are drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams are seeded into four pots based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients.

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32, where they are joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays are 20 September, 4 October, 25 October, 8 November, 29 November, and 13 December 2018.

A total of 48 teams play in the group stage: 17 teams which enter in this stage, the 21 winners of the play-off round (eight from Champions Path, thirteen from Main Path), the six losers of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League play-off round (four from Champions Path, two from League Path), and the four League Path losers of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LEV	ZUR	AKL	LUD
1	Bayer Leverkusen	6	4	1	1	16	9	+7	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	4–2	1–1
2	Zürich	6	3	1	2	7	6	+1	10			3–2	—	1–2	1–0
3	AEK Larnaca	6	1	2	3	6	12	−6	5			1–5	0–1	—	1–1
4	Ludogorets Razgrad	6	0	4	2	5	7	−2	4			2–3	1–1	0–0	—

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SAL	CEL	RBL	ROS
1	Red Bull Salzburg	6	6	0	0	17	6	+11	18	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	1–0	3–0
2	Celtic	6	3	0	3	6	8	−2	9			1–2	—	2–1	1–0
3	RB Leipzig	6	2	1	3	9	8	+1	7			2–3	2–0	—	1–1
4	Rosenborg	6	0	1	5	4	14	−10	1			2–5	0–1	1–3	—

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZEN	SLP	BOR	KOB
1	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	3	2	1	6	5	+1	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	2–1	1–0
2	Slavia Prague	6	3	1	2	4	3	+1	10			2–0	—	1–0	0–0
3	Bordeaux	6	2	1	3	6	6	0	7			1–1	2–0	—	1–2
4	Copenhagen	6	1	2	3	3	5	−2	5			1–1	0–1	0–1	—

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		DZG	FEN	SPT	AND
1	Dinamo Zagreb	6	4	2	0	11	3	+8	14	Advance to knockout phase		—	4–1	3–1	0–0
2	Fenerbahçe	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–0	—	2–0	2–0
3	Spartak Trnava	6	2	1	3	4	7	−3	7			1–2	1–0	—	1–0
4	Anderlecht	6	0	3	3	2	7	−5	3			0–2	2–2	0–0	—

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ARS	SPO	VOR	QRB
1	Arsenal	6	5	1	0	12	2	+10	16	Advance to knockout phase		—	0–0	4–2	1-0
2	Sporting CP	6	4	1	1	13	3	+10	13			0–1	—	3-0	2–0
3	Vorskla Poltava	6	1	0	5	4	13	−9	3			0–3	1–2	—	0–1
4	Qarabağ	6	1	0	5	2	13	−11	3			0–3	1–6	0–1	—

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BET	OLY	MIL	DUD
1	Real Betis	6	3	3	0	7	2	+5	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	1–1	3–0
2	Olympiacos	6	3	1	2	11	6	+5	10			0–0	—	3–1	5–1
3	Milan	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10			1–2	3–1	—	5–2
4	F91 Dudelange	6	0	1	5	3	16	−13	1			0–0	0–2	0–1	—

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VIL	RW	RAN	SPM
1	Villarreal	6	2	4	0	12	5	+7	10	Advance to knockout phase		—	5–0	2–2	2–0
2	Rapid Wien	6	3	1	2	6	9	−3	10			0–0	—	1–0	2–0
3	Rangers	6	1	3	2	8	8	0	6			0–0	3–1	—	0–0
4	Spartak Moscow	6	1	2	3	8	12	−4	5			3–3	1–2	4–3	—

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		FRA	LAZ	APL	MAR
1	Eintracht Frankfurt	6	6	0	0	17	5	+12	18	Advance to knockout phase		—	4–1	2–0	4–0
2	Lazio	6	3	0	3	9	11	−2	9			1–2	—	2–1	2–1
3	Apollon Limassol	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	7			2–3	2–0	—	2–2
4	Marseille	6	0	1	5	6	16	−10	1			1–2	1–3	1–3	—

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GNK	MAL	BES	SRP
1	Genk	6	3	2	1	14	8	+6	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–0	1–1	4–0
2	Malmö FF	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9			2–2	—	2–0	1–1
3	Beşiktaş	6	2	1	3	9	11	−2	7			2–4	0–1	—	3–1
4	Sarpsborg 08	6	1	2	3	8	13	−5	5			3–1	1–1	2–3	—

Group J

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SEV	KRA	STL	AKH
1	Sevilla	6	4	0	2	18	6	+12	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–0	5–1	6–0
2	Krasnodar	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	12			2–1	—	2–1	2–1
3	Standard Liège	6	3	1	2	7	9	−2	10			1–0	2–1	—	2–1
4	Akhisarspor	6	0	1	5	4	14	−10	1			2–3	0–1	0–0	—

Group K

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		DKV	REN	AST	JAB
1	Dynamo Kyiv	6	3	2	1	10	7	+3	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	2–2	0–1
2	Rennes	6	3	0	3	7	8	−1	9			1–2	—	2–0	2–1
3	Astana	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–1	2–0	—	2–1
4	Jablonec	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	5			2–2	0–1	1–1	—

Group L

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CHL	BATE	VID	PAOK
1	Chelsea	6	5	1	0	12	3	+9	16	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	1–0	4–0
2	BATE Borisov	6	3	0	3	9	9	0	9			0–1	—	2–0	1–4
3	MOL Vidi	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	7			2–2	0–2	—	1–0
4	PAOK	6	1	0	5	5	12	−7	3			0–1	1–3	0–2	—

Knockout phase

In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.

Bracket

Round of 32						Round of 16						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final (29 May – Baku)
Viktoria Plzeň	2	0	2
Dinamo Zagreb	1	3	4			Dinamo Zagreb	1	0	1
Galatasaray	1	0	1			Benfica (aet)	0	3	3
Benfica	2	0	2									Benfica	4	0	4
Shakhtar Donetsk	2	1	3									Eintracht Frankfurt (a)	2	2	4
Eintracht Frankfurt	2	4	6			Eintracht Frankfurt	0	1	1
Rapid Wien	0	0	0			Inter Milan	0	0	0
Inter Milan	1	4	5															Eintracht Frankfurt	1	1	2 (3)
Lazio	0	0	0															Chelsea (p)	1	1	2 (4)
Sevilla	1	2	3			Sevilla	2	3	5
Slavia Prague	0	4	4			Slavia Prague (aet)	2	4	6
Genk	0	1	1									Slavia Prague	0	3	3
Malmö FF	1	0	1									Chelsea	1	4	5
Chelsea	2	3	5			Chelsea	3	5	8
Olympiacos	2	0	2			Dynamo Kyiv	0	0	0
Dynamo Kyiv	2	1	3																					Chelsea	4
Rennes	3	3	6																					Arsenal	1
Real Betis	3	1	4			Rennes	3	0	3
BATE Borisov	1	0	1			Arsenal	1	3	4
Arsenal	0	3	3									Arsenal	2	1	3
Zürich	1	0	1									Napoli	0	0	0
Napoli	3	2	5			Napoli	3	1	4
Club Brugge	2	0	2			Red Bull Salzburg	0	3	3
Red Bull Salzburg	1	4	5															Arsenal	3	4	7
Fenerbahçe	1	1	2															Valencia	1	2	3
Zenit Saint Petersburg	0	3	3			Zenit Saint Petersburg	1	1	2
Sporting CP	0	1	1			Villarreal	3	2	5
Villarreal	1	1	2									Villarreal	1	0	1
Celtic	0	0	0									Valencia	3	2	5
Valencia	2	1	3			Valencia	2	1	3
Krasnodar (a)	0	1	1			Krasnodar	1	1	2
Bayer Leverkusen	0	1	1

Round of 32

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 17 December 2018. The first legs were played on 12 and 14 February, and the second legs were played on 20 and 21 February 2019.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Viktoria Plzeň	2–4	Dinamo Zagreb	2–1	0–3
Club Brugge	2–5	Red Bull Salzburg	2–1	0–4
Rapid Wien	0–5	Inter Milan	0–1	0–4
Slavia Prague	4–1	Genk	0–0	4–1
Krasnodar	1–1 (a)	Bayer Leverkusen	0–0	1–1
Zürich	1–5	Napoli	1–3	0–2
Malmö FF	1–5	Chelsea	1–2	0–3
Shakhtar Donetsk	3–6	Eintracht Frankfurt	2–2	1–4
Celtic	0–3	Valencia	0–2	0–1
Rennes	6–4	Real Betis	3–3	3–1
Olympiacos	2–3	Dynamo Kyiv	2–2	0–1
Lazio	0–3	Sevilla	0–1	0–2
Fenerbahçe	2–3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–0	1–3
Sporting CP	1–2	Villarreal	0–1	1–1
BATE Borisov	1–3	Arsenal	1–0	0–3
Galatasaray	1–2	Benfica	1–2	0–0

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 22 February 2019. The first legs were played on 7 March, and the second legs were played on 14 March 2019.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Chelsea	8–0	Dynamo Kyiv	3–0	5–0
Eintracht Frankfurt	1–0	Inter Milan	0–0	1–0
Dinamo Zagreb	1–3	Benfica	1–0	0–3 (aet)
Napoli	4–3	Red Bull Salzburg	3–0	1–3
Valencia	3–2	Krasnodar	2–1	1–1
Sevilla	5–6	Slavia Prague	2–2	3–4 (aet)
Rennes	3–4	Arsenal	3–1	0–3
Zenit Saint Petersburg	2–5	Villarreal	1–3	1–2

Notes

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 15 March 2019. The first legs were played on 11 April, the second legs were played on 18 April 2019.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Arsenal	3–0	Napoli	2–0	1–0
Villarreal	1–5	Valencia	1–3	0–2
Benfica	4–4 (a)	Eintracht Frankfurt	4–2	0–2
Slavia Prague	3–5	Chelsea	0–1	3–4

Notes

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 March 2019 (after the quarter-final draw). The first legs were played on 2 May, and the second legs were played on 9 May 2019.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Arsenal	7–3	Valencia	3–1	4–2
Eintracht Frankfurt	2–2 (3–4 p)	Chelsea	1–1	1–1 (aet)

Final

The final was held on 29 May 2019 at the Olympic Stadium in Baku. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.

29 May 2019 (2019-05-29) 21:00 CEST	Chelsea	4–1	Arsenal	Olympic Stadium, Baku Attendance: 51,370 Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
	Giroud  49' Pedro  60' Hazard  65' (pen.), 72'	report	Iwobi  69'

See also

In Spanish: Liga Europa de la UEFA 2018-19 para niños